consider wearing a face mask, you know, like a surgical mask. Your own breath makes your next breath more moist.

Saline nasal spray

What gardenspice said. Use it all you want. I use it all the time in winter.

Sorry you're not feeling well, I hope that changes real soon.

My google search (everyone's an expert!) suggests that most sinus infections have a viral cause. Meaning, an antibiotic may not hasten your recovery. Sounds like maybe your passages are just sensitive to dry air. There are lots of people who spend days-weeks-months at a time in very dry conditions (like those who live in desert regions of the West, or in very cold winter areas of the middle and East of the US). Or the crew personnel who spend many days a week in such conditions. A half day's exposure to dry air shouldn't cause recurring problems. But obviously it has for you.

I've heard that just sipping water and making an effort to breathe through your nose is about all that can be done.

I had a cross-country trip a few weeks ago and returned home with a very runny nose that lasted for a week. I think the biggest problem is the confined space and poor sanitary habits many passengers follow. It's ultimately just something that often happens with little to do to avoid it, unless you can afford to charter your own plane for the trips you take.

I remember people using cans of spray water to mist their faces to keep the skin dewy and help the complexion in dry weather. Maybe you can buy a can of that and spritz your face every now and then.

Last few years I've been derelict in my duty to set up the humidifier in the winter so I've used the saline spray a lot and it does help. However there's nothing quite like a wet washcloth with steaming hot water held up to the nose to provide fast and effective relief. Not sure how hot you can get water on a plane but maybe if you talk to a flight attendant they would bring you a cup of tea water. Have your own washcloth with you.

Not sure how long you'll be on the plane but maybe you can get yourself prepared ahead of time and make it through the trip. Dry sinuses can be very miserable. Tough to sleep. I know how it is. When I spend a night somewhere that it's dry it's really difficult for me to breathe.

I started the trip with a sinus infection below my right cheekbone. It was painful enough that it woke me many times overnight. NOT flying wasn't an option. We fly Maui-Dallas-Chicago. It's a long day, with nine-plus hours in planes. The dry air in the planes was torture.

I was hoping there was some 'personal moisture delivery system' a person could wear. I was thinking 'mask', but with a water reservoir and a battery powered 'steamer'. I have used a table size, plug-in steamer with mask to relieve asthma attacks. I bet this would sell, especially if it had a means of also sanitizing the air supply. OR...not happening...the airlines could improve the air in the cabins. I'd pay an upgrade charge for that section.

I wonder if any of the spritzers or steamers would even be allowed in the cabin of a plane? As recently as October 2014, my daughter wasn't allowed to bring baby powder or lotion in the carry on diaper bag.

Chisue, have you heard of Humidiflyer ? Sounds like it would be exactly what you need.

Humidiflyer

Thanks, rhizo. I've bookmarked that and will ask my MD if he thinks it would work. (Soon I'll be able to fly incognito, wearing this, the noise-cancelling headphones and a sleep mask -- or be swatted AS a fly for looking like one.)

heres the website, I had to see what it was. Looks like just what you need.
humidiflyer